Seeing the new characters on Jakku reminds me of the (possibly apocryphal) anecdote about one of the producers that it was a couple of days into production before people noticed that he didn't know there was a difference between Stars "Trek" and "Wars", and this was why he was so vehemently pushing for Discovery to be less like the tv show and more like the movies. Which I can actually understand, as Trek and Wars movies are basically the same thing now anyway.

I like that they look like the inhabitants of Nimbus III and that they're farting about on a desert world looking for one of Spock's relatives, because it means that this is based on Star Wars 5:The Final Frontier. Hopefully we get another canon Sybok appearance, because he is just the absolute best, you guys - especially now Han Solo is dead.

Some people liked (Babylon 5 spin-off) Crusade, and some people like lens flares - clearly this has been cannily crafted to nail down the overlap.Oddly, I reckon Seth McFarlane's new Galaxy Quest show - understandably being made without the involvement of Galaxy Quest's original cast, or writers, or the Galaxy Quest brand, or any jokes - looks like it might feel like more of a Trek show.

Especially with Riker and Paris directing episodes... but the central presence of McFarlane's irritating face, the slavish copying of TNG designs (legitimate parody, guv!) and the absence of ANY decent gags in the trailer makes me dubious about the whole thing.

Watching the Discovery trailer a few times now, I suspect the only real hope it has is to fill out the paperwork and embrace JJ's Kelvin timeline, the look of which it so closely follows, which would free them from the straitjacket of both fan opprobium and prequelitis, and with the new acceptance of that direction that the superior ...Beyond created, may make more financial sense... Maybe the reveal of which continiuty we're in could be a Surprise Twist.

Kelvin timeline is taking place 10 years before TOS, but so is Discovery. They're either happening at the same time, or Discovery - if set in the Kelvin timeline - is taking place 20 years before TOS - though we saw 20 years before TOS in The Cage, so basically fucked if I know. As long as it has lasers and explosions I'll be watching.

I stopped finding McFarlane funny many years ago, but this just means I can hopefully enjoy Orville as a drama.

Kelvin timeline is taking place 10 years before TOS, but so is Discovery.

Please (please) don't make me visit Memory Alpha to check these things, but the JJ Kirk is early 20s when he meets Pike in a bar, which puts the arrival of Nero's ship maybe 25 years before the 5 Year Mission. If Discovery were to get with the bloody programme that would place it 15 years after the loss of the Kelvin, no? So it seems like there'd be ample room for Chris Hemsworth's uniform to evolve into that ghastly metallic ensemble, and for the bridge lens flare generators to become 125% more efficient. Whereas I can't imagine how all this would ever pretend to fit between the flashback sequences in The Menagerie and Where No Man Has Gone Before.